Can Ugandan children do without kindergarten?

Educationalists maintain pre-school is critical in children’s physical, mental and psycho-social development

Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | How do you home-school a three year old without going nuts? Maximum respect to kindergarten teachers,” a young Ugandan mother posted on her Facebook page on Feb.11.

Thousands of Ugandan parents have been asking the same question since Janet Kataaha Museveni, the First Lady who also
doubles as the Minister of Education and Sports,told parents on Feb.05 that learners in kindergarten will not go to school anytime soon.

The minister said the children will have to wait until the COVID-19 pandemic dissipates. She said the children may even have to go straight into P.1when they are at least 5 years old. P.1 or Grade One marks the first year of Uganda’s grueling 16-year education cycle.

“Nursery school is not worth endangering these very young children and exposing them to COVID-19,” Janet Museveni said as she gave her latest roadmap on the reopening of education institutions for non-candidate classes. “Besides, P.1 teachers know how to teach these children even when they haven’t gone to Kindergarten.”

She said pre-primary schools will not be re-opened because pupils in this age bracket do not wear masks. She added that nursery school children are day scholars with a lot of interactions within schools (pupils and teachers) and parents. These young children, she noted, also suffer from a high incidence of upper respiratory infections.

But the education minister left more questions for parents than answers. How do parents who already have tough work schedules home-school their children? Isn’t the government indirectly telling parents to pass on this responsibility to maids? Do the maids have these skills to teach pre-school children? How will Kindergarten owners survive without these young learners?

When The Independent sought clarification from the Ministry of Education and Sports, Dr. Cleophas Mugenyi, the commissioner in charge of Pre-primary and Primary Education at the Ministry of Education was cagey in his response.

“It is only the spokesperson of the Ministry of Education and Sports (the Permanent Secretary) who can clarify the First Lady’s pronouncement,” Mugenyi told The Independent on Feb.10.

Efforts to reach out to Alex Kakooza, the Permanent Secretary, proved futile as he did not pick calls on his known number. Indeed, Kindergarten was not on schedule for the staggered reopening of school which was published on Feb.11 by the education ministry.

Unhappy parents & Kindergarten owners

Desire Ampeire, the head of the preschool section at Disney Kindergarten and Primary School in Kampala told The Independent on Feb.12 that it is interesting that proprietors and owners of pre-school institutions were never consulted.

The government did not consider at all the fact that schools plan ahead; and that some of them actually have bank loans. We are now wondering how we are supposed to handle this issue,” she said, “The pandemic seems to be going nowhere and we don’t know what we are supposed to be telling these banks.”

Ampeire also wonders how parents will handle the home-schooling issue. “In an economy like Uganda’s, where both parents are working all the time, I feel this government is telling us to leave our kids’ education in our maids’ hands. She says the government’s proposal would only have worked if Uganda had a home school plan like what the UK or US governments have in place.”

James Muhindo whose daughter had just started her journey of formal education last March told The Independent that Janet Museveni’s decision is premised on the 1970s model when children came straight from home and went to P.1.

Muhindo added: “That was before the curriculum for nursery school was integrated in Uganda’s education system. Right now, there is a portion of learning that you will not encounter in P.1 and the presumption is that the children have encountered this content at nursery level.”

But some parents like Jackie Asiimwe are okay with the government’s decision. Asiimwe’s youngest daughter, Linah Maria, was also just one month into her kindergarten when President Yoweri Museveni closed all schools in the country in March 2020 to halt the rapid spread of COVID-19.

Linah was among the 15 million Ugandan learners who had to come back home. Although at the time, everyone at Asiimwe’s home thought this was a temporary directive from the president, over the last nine months; Linah has been enjoying her food, sleep and games at home.

Save for a few occasions when her elder sisters have come in to teach her how to count, draw and read, Linah has had no guidance from a professional pre-school teacher.

Asiimwe told The Independent that she has not been involved in Linah’s learning because she hardly has time, thanks to her busy work schedule. But with the recent decision taken by the government, she says, she will have to create time to home school her girl.

“We will have to find time for her, especially in the evenings and over the weekends. I will be doing this concurrently with
her elder siblings.”

Asiimwe thinks it is a good thing for the younger children to remain home because they cannot adhere to the standard operating procedures like observing social distance and wearing masks.

“Nursery school is very important because it is where the kids learn social skills and they get acquainted to formal education but I am also aware that they are also vulnerable when it comes to respiratory infections.”